UW Madison's patenting arm wins lawsuit

Legal Events

The University of Wisconsin-Madison's patenting arm has won an appeal in federal court against Canadian drug company Xenon.

The 7th Circuit Court of Appeals ruled Tuesday in favor of the Wisconsin Alumni Research Foundation.

The lawsuit dealt with how Xenon handled patent rights to an enzyme that can lower cholesterol levels in the human body.

The appeals court said a lower court correctly ruled in favor of WARF on its claim that Xenon broke its contract for a licensing agreement.

WARF licensed the technology to Xenon in 2001, which then entered into a partnership with Novartis to further develop the discoveries made by the university researchers.

The appeals court says Xenon breached its contract with WARF by not paying its share of sublicense fees.

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Workers’ Compensation Subrogation of Administrative Fees and Costs

When a worker covered by workers’ compensation makes a claim against a third party, the workers’ compensation insurance retains the right to subrogate against any recovery from that third party for all benefits paid to or on behalf of a claimant injured at work. When subrogating for more than basic medical and indemnity benefits, the Texas workers’ compensation subrogation statute provides that “the net amount recovered by a claimant in a third‑party action shall be used to reimburse the carrier for benefits, including medical benefits that have been paid for the compensable injury.” TX Labor Code § 417.002.

In fact, all 50 states provide for similar subrogation. However, none of them precisely outlines which payments or costs paid by a compensation carrier constitute “compensation” and can be recovered. The result is industry-wide confusion and an ongoing debate and argument with claimants’ attorneys over what can and can’t be included in a carrier’s lien for recovery purposes.

In addition to medical expenses, death benefits, funeral costs and/or indemnity benefits for lost wages and loss of earning capacity resulting from a compensable injury, workers’ compensation insurance carriers also expend considerable dollars for case management costs, medical bill audit fees, rehabilitation benefits, nurse case worker fees, and other similar fees. They also incur other expenses in conjunction with the handling and adjusting of workers’ compensation claims. Workers’ compensation carriers typically assert, of course, that, they are entitled to reimbursement for such expenditures when it recovers its workers’ compensation lien. Injured workers and their attorneys disagree.

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